Lamar Odom's Secret Crack Cocaine Use

How do we ever know what to believe in the news? Of course, a trusted news outlet is the best way to go, but even they get it wrong sometimes. How do we decipher the news versus just plain gossip that has not be verified?

The latest “news” that is being reported by Sports Illustrated’s website SI Wire is saying that Lamar Odom has been missing for three days and is assumed to be on a crack cocaine binge. SI Wire is re-reporting the story that was initially released on TMZ’s website.

Who Knew?!

Apparently Khloe Kardashian Odom has been keeping her husband’s drug problem a secret from her family, and from the rest of the world. Reports are saying that Lamar has had a problem with crack for over two years now. Does he need drug rehab? Evidently yes he does, and he already went last year, completely under the radar. According to TMZ and SI Wire, the Kardashians staged an intervention that lead to a 3-week rehab stint last August that should have lasted longer, but Lamar refused to stay. Khloe visited often, trying to encourage her husband to complete drug rehab so he can start over again.

When Lamar left rehab, the marriage experienced even more strain, to the point of Khloe having to kick Lamar out of the house recently when he refused to return to drug rehab, which he clearly needs.

His Past

Of course when a report comes out of this nature, everything from Lamar’s past is dug up. In 2001, the prob basketball player was suspended twice for drug abuse. The NBA felt Lamar was violating their drug policy, and that was that. Lamar got clean and joined the Lakers, where he won two championships.

This drug problem is not new. Did Khloe understand Lamar’s demons before she married him? It seems like he is clean during the basketball season, but then dives deeply into crack cocaine use during the off-season. What kind of marriage can you have with a man who chooses that life?

His Present

Women have come forward in recent months claiming to have been with Lamar sexually. Is this another aspect of his life that is being hidden from the public? Are the divorce rumors true; are Khloe and Lamar deciding to part ways, or is Khloe standing by the man she married, no matter what?

In true Kardashian form, Khloe’s mom, Kris Jenner has released a statement about the couple. “Khloe and Lamar are absolutely not getting divorced. There's been no talk of divorce." It is hard to know what to believe. Would you have ever guessed that Lamar Odom was addicted to crack cocaine and that, after one failed attempt at drug rehab, the Kardashian clan would be trying to intervene again and get someone in their tight-knit family to stop smoking such a dangerous drug?

Their Future

Khloe and Lamar have decided not to do another season of their reality show. Has it become too hard to hid Lamar’s reality? The reason given was so that Lamar can focus on his basketball career. E!, the channel that televises all the Kardashian, Odom, and Jenner shows is still interested in Khloe, possibly in her own show.

What will happen with Lamar and with Lamar and Khloe’s marriage? Will Lamar go to drug rehab again and finally recover from his addiction? Stay tuned! There’s never a dull moment in the Kardashian’s world.

Kate Green is a quality improvement manager that strives to inspire people dealing with drug and alcohol abuse. She works for Balboa Horizons Treatment Services.

Image Credit: 1.

Michael Jackson's Daughter Hospitalized After Slitting Wrist

The 15-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson has been hospitalized.

Apparently Paris Jackson slit one of her wrists and then called a suicide counseling hotline. The hotline professional called and had an ambulance sent to the family's home in Calabasas, California, a prominent part of Los Angeles.

The incident was described by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as police officers responding to "a medical situation" at 1:27am, that resulted in one patient being taken to the hospital.

A cry for help

Family members do not feel that Paris was actually attempting suicide, but they do recognize the incident as a cry for help. Paris has been having a really hard time being involved in her father's wrongful death trial. She is listed as a witness, but may not be called to actually testify. This feels like a lot of pressure to such a young girl who was traumatized enough by the untimely death of the dad she adored.

Lawsuit

Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine, plus Paris and her brothers, Prince and Blanket, are suing AEG Live, the company they believe is responsible for the singer’s overdose death in 2009. AEG Live is the company that coordinated all of Michael Jackson’s tours. One doctor, who was hired to care for Michael on the 1993 “Dangerous” world tour, informed an AEG Live executive that, in his professional opinion, Michael was an opiate addict, in the form of injections, patches, and pills. The lawsuit now accuses AEG Live and its employees of ignoring that information and essentially turning a blind eye to MJ’s drug use.

Rehashing all of this information and having to relive the details of her dad’s death is clearly taking a toll on Paris Jackson. With the amount of stress and discomfort she and her family are enduring, it’s no wonder Paris is in need of help.

Although Paris spoke of the love she had for her father at his memorial service, it is always difficult having a relationship with an opiate addict. Is the reality of her father’s life setting in and she doesn’t know how to handle it?

Relationships with addicts

Michael Jackson never stayed sober, so essentially he was on drugs while raising his children. Any relationship with an opiate addict will not make much logical sense. Michael may have been nothing but loving to his children, but there is still a piece missing when a parent is high. Paris might be realizing just how absent her father was at times, and how he ultimately chose drugs over his own health.

Paris has reunited with her birth mother, Debbie Rowe. Hopefully that relationship can help create some stability in her life as she matures into adulthood.

Reports say that Paris is participating in a residential treatment program because she is still a danger to herself. What will be next for the only daughter of Michael Jackson? How will she and her family attempt to live a life of happiness and health?

Hopefully Paris can heal from the pain of an ongoing relationship with an opiate addict, in this case her father, and from the pain caused by his death?

Balboa Horizon's Kate Green is a quality improvement manager that is passionate about helping people with their struggles against drug and alcohol abuse. Learn more by reading her post about the growing epidemic of opiate addiction and abuse.

Image Credit: 1, 2.

Amy Winehouse Died Of Bulimia, Not Drug Abuse

Newsflash: Amy Winehouse’s brother says that bulimia killed Amy, not drugs.

Alex Winehouse recognizes that his sister was on a path to death, but that it was ultimately years of her eating disorder behaviors that rendered her body too weak to continue functioning.

Bulimia symptoms and behaviors started in Amy’s teen years and did not subside, probably because she was never treated for the illness. She was also never treated well for substance abuse. 

Co-occuring disorders

With this news from Alex, we now know that Amy Winehouse could have been dually-diagnosed. In other words, Amy had co-occurring disorders: an addiction and an eating disorder.

When left untreated, just one mental illness or disorder is detrimental to the life of the sufferer. When two illnesses are happening at the same time, it is certainly harder to diagnose and treat. If you are abusing a drug that alters your brain chemistry, and therefore how you view the world, and subsequently act, it is really hard to tell if symptoms of a mental illness are from the drug use, or if they are a separate issue.

There are numerous treatment centers that treat co-occurring disorders during the same rehab stint. For someone like Amy, a focus on bulimia and on alcohol and drug abuse could have given her the opportunity to get change. People who have felt uncomfortable in their own lives, and in their own bodies, often turn to alcohol, cocaine, prescription pills, heroin, or whatever else to feel differently or to escape from your discomfort. When the drug use stops, and you are left with a life on pause, you want to immediately go back to the feeling the drug gave you.

Unenjoyable reality

Reality for these people is not enjoyable without substances. Cocaine, for example, can seem to help someone who has an eating disorder. In Amy’s case, the appetite suppressing power of cocaine may have been just what she was looking for: a way to eat less and maintain a smaller body weight.

The cocaine is masking the eating disorder symptoms, but below the surface, and when the person is not using, the symptoms come right back, sometimes even more intensely.

Amy Winehouse could have spent some time in rehab and healed the issues that lead to bulimia and substance abuse. She could have gotten better. Maybe her dad should have stepped in with more force to get his daughter the help she desperately needed.

Club 27

People loved her music. She definitely made her mark on the industry, and could have realized a sustainable creative career, but instead she joins the 27 Club (famous people who have died at age 27) whether it’s because of bulimia or substance abuse.

Sadly we will never know because she said no, no, no to rehab. It doesn’t make a difference what actually took her life because a young, talented woman is gone.

With dual diagnosis treatment, Amy could still be singing but with how she said yes, yes, yes to rehab and what adventures she can now experience without drugs and alcohol.

Kate Green is a quality improvement manager at Balboa Horizons Treatment Services that helps those who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

Image Credit: 1, 2.

Women's Inpatient Rehabilitation For Lindsey Lohan

Lindsay Lohan is back in rehab after facing court-mandated treatment instead of jail time.

What do women need in treatment to be successful? Are gender-specific treatment programs necessary for women to get sober and sustain a life of recovery?

Lindsay has been to rehab several times, so what can be different this time? Would she benefit from a women’s inpatient substance abuse program rather than a coed group?

Women Have Their Own Set Of Challenges

Women who have been abusing alcohol, prescription pills, or any illegal drugs are reacting to something emotionally difficult. Getting to the bottom of that void that’s seeking to be filled is important for her to ever be clean for long periods of time. Often times elminating the distractions associated with the opposite sex is beneficial.

Was this woman a victim of violence or another form of trauma? Is there unresolved emotional pain that’s making her want to numb out, escape, or kill pain?

What Women Need

Women in rehab need comfort, security, a good support system, and other good women around. When a women's inpatient substance abuse program provides those key elements, clients can open up to one another and really share the truth about their lives.

Let’s pretend for a minute that we know Lindsay Lohan. Since she is a public figure, we have more information than we would a stranger walking down the street. We know that the relationship with her dad is volatile, but we don’t really know why. The reasoning behind the distance is something personal to Lindsay that may feel like an empty space that needs to be filled with something else.

When she doesn’t know how to handle the painful emotions and real-time situations, Lindsay seems to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. Self medication is a common reason people begin abusing substances in the first place and often what triggers a relapse.

The Root Of Addiction

In a women’s inpatient substance abuse program, where the clients live on-site, Lindsay Lohan’s inner turmoil could be revealed, added as a component of her treatment plan, and then addressed during individual therapy and in a peer process group. With the help of and support from other women, Lindsay could get to the root of her addiction and her harmful behaviors so that this stint in rehab could potentially be her last.

For any woman seeking treatment for addiction, a women’s inpatient substance abuse program is the way to go. You can participate in activities like yoga, meditation, intention-setting, art therapy, 12-Step Meetings, nutrition counseling, life skills workshops, and various forms of therapy.

Getting Healthy

What could be better while getting healthy and regaining your life? Regardless of who you are or what you do for a living, there is no reason to let drugs and alcohol limit you potential enjoyment in life.

Let’s hope Lindsay’s time in rehab allows her to see the life she could be living without drugs, alcohol, continuously being involved with the legal system, and self-harming behaviors that surround her current lifestyle. Best of luck LiLo!

Kate Green is a quality improvement manager at Balboa Horizons Treatment Services, her passion is to help others overcome struggle with issues of alcohol and drug addiction learn more at http://www.balboahorizons.com.

Image Credit: 1.

Michael Jackson Should Of Had An Intervention For Plastic Surgery

Michael Jackson was a musical child genius, and he grew up to be perhaps the most successful pop musician of all time.  And unlike many pop stars, he was genuinely talented, a supremely innovative and influential singer/dancer extraordinaire.  He counted the world’s most famous and revered people as his friends, including Brooke Shields, Madonna, Marlon Brando, and Elizabeth Taylor.

The Man In The Mirror 

But despite the worldwide fame and adoration, the massive wealth, and the God-given talent, he still hated what he saw in the mirror. Despite being an adorable child and a handsome young man, he still thought his nose was too wide and unrefined. Having this unfortunate view could of been tied to the phsyical and emotional abuse he suffered as a child.

This seemed innocent enough - many people don’t like their nose and seek a rhinoplasty (cosmetic surgery on the nose). This, alone, doesn’t mean that they have a plastic surgery addiction. So if Michael Jackson was able to stop at modifying his nose, his life and the world’s reaction to him may have been very different.

Body Dysmorphia 

But Michael Jackson, unfortunately, seemed to have suffered from Body Dysmorphic Disorder, where the individual views themselves as distorted and deformed, despite being neither. There are various levels of this disorder, but at the worst the person isolates himself from the outside world, and will go to extreme lengths to modify his physical appearance.

Wealth Was Enabling

Unfortunately, Michael Jackson was so rich, he lived an insulated life where no one would have conducted an intervention before he went too far with the plastic surgery procedures. He also was able to bribe doctors who violated their Hippocratic oath of Do No Harm to perform these procedures. The result was the widely reported collapse of his nose due to invasive surgeries to give him a thinner nose with a refined tip.

His appearance underwent a remarkable change over the years. His skin became increasingly lighter, and he also was reported to have had even more operations for a cleft chin, cheekbone augmentation, and even started wearing surgical masks in public for no apparent reason. People suffering from body dysmorphia have a hard time recognizing the person in the mirror for their real beauty.

Plastic Surgery Intervention 

Michael Jackson would have greatly benefited from a plastic surgery intervention. There are people who become addicted to plastic surgery and Michael Jackson was apparently one of them. An addiction to plastic surgery is defined as someone who turns to surgery to fix perceived faults that don’t exist to the general public. Most times we think of addiction as involving drugs and alcohol, but the mental addiction to plastic surgery is real.

An ethical doctor would most likely turn away a regular patient who wants excessive surgeries. They would have been able to seen the damage that has already been done by the dozens of surgery already performed. But for Michael Jackson, the saying of having too much of a good thing, rings true for him in more ways than one.

Ken Seeley is the founder of Intervention 911, a treatment company designed to help people suffering from behavior, mental and substance addictions by providing interventions. To learn more about the author follow Ken Seeley on Twitter.

Image Credit: 1.

5 Best Comic Entertainers Who Battled Addiction

It's often said that most comedians have a dark side, and often some of the best comedy treads a fine line between humor and pathos. Many of our finest comedians have struggled with alcohol and drug addictions, shielding themselves from pain with a combination of humor and substance abuse. Below are five of the best comics who were also addicts.

Lenny Bruce

Lenny Bruce shook up the 1950s and early 1960s with comedy that deal with previously taboo subjects like religion, sex and politics to a degree that had never been done before. Unfortunately, he struggled with addiction throughout his career and was found dead in his home in 1966 from a morphine overdose.

Why He Was One of the Best: Bruce was a groundbreaking comic by any estimation due not only to the subject of his comedy but his landmark obscenity trial. It was widely protested by a number of artists, and his conviction was overturned after his death.

John Belushi

As part of the original cast of "Saturday Night Live" and iconic for his work in films like "The Blues Brothers" and "Animal House," Belushi was a beloved comic whose talent was overshadowed by his addiction. He died at the age of 33 in 1982 from an overdose of of heroin and cocaine.

Why He Was One of the Best: Belushi's film work, his work with Second City in Chicago and his "Saturday Night Live" appearances all solidified him as one of the greatest American comics.

Richard Pryor

Pryor was a stand-up comedian whose boldness in dealing with racial issues was unprecedented. He was in a number of popular films and co-wrote the Mel Brooks-directed "Blazing Saddles." He struggled with addiction, however, including a famous incident in which he was found running down the street on fire near his home in a drug-induced psychosis.

Why He Was One of the Best: Many of his peers consider him one of the best or the best comedian of his time, and he changed the way comedians talked about race.

Sam Kinison

Kinison was known for his abrasiveness and a jarring scream dating from his days as a Pentecostal preacher, and in the 1980s and up until his death in a car accident in 1992, he appeared on a number of talk shows and was a regular on the radio with "The Howard Stern Show." His career was marked by struggles with addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Why He Was One of the Best: Kinison blended social satire and dark humor in his edgy, confrontational comedy that last to this day.

Mitch Hedburg

Hedburg's star rose higher after his death than it ever did while he was alive. His style was deadpan and absurd humor that was often observational. He made no secret of his drug use, sometimes mentioning it during comedy routines, and he died from an overdose of heroin and cocaine in 2005.

Why He Was One of the Best: Hedburg's comedy was smart and original and generates a fevered cult following to this day.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source 

Dana Reynolds is an addiction counselor and columnist who regularly writes about online addiction counseling degrees.